Extracción y caracterización físico-química de cera natural de Morella pubescens Humb & Bonp (laurel de cera) a nivel laboratorio.

Abstract

The aim of this research was to extract and characterize the physicochemical composition of the natural wax of Morella pubescens Humb & Bonpl at laboratory level. The fruit was collected in Palictagua parish, Canton Penipe, Province of Chimborazo. This work was carried out in the laboratory of Facultad de Recursos Naturales of the Escuela Superior Politécnica de Chimborazo, where 150 g of the fruit was macerated with butyl glycol to obtain the ethereal extract with which the phytochemical screening was done, this revealed that the wax presents secondary metabolites identifying phenols and terpenes, for the extraction of wax the pressing and Soxhlet methods were used, with the pressing method no results were obtained and with the Soxhlet method, with cartridges of 12. 85 g cartridges and three solvents hexane, ethanol and diethyl ether, it was determined that hexane as solvent obtained the highest yield with 27.37%. In order to find unsaturated compounds, the wax obtained with Soxhlet and the hexane solvent was analyzed by the thin layer chromatography method and pure olive oil and Sacha Inchi were used as chromatographic standards to compare them with the diluted samples and it was determined that there are unsaturated compounds in the wax structure. The physical characteristics of wax were determined in which three qualitative and quantitative parameters were evaluated, as well as solubility, with color and odor being the most representative. To measure the efficiency of the application of wax on porous surfaces of vegetal origin, three wooden test tubes were dimensioned and the penetration, absorption and protection of the wax on the wood were analyzed; these values were low, so the use of the wax is not recommended. In future studies it is suggested to perform the extraction with petroleum ether.